Preheating piston for internal-combustion engines



Feb. 26 1924. 1,485,009 v C. ALTENBURGER PREHEATING PISTON FOR INTERNALCOMBUSTION ENGINES Filed June 17 1921 'llllunmHIH Patented Feb. 26,1924.

CARL ALTENBUR-GER, 0E MOBRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

PREHEATING PISTON FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed June 17, 1921. Serial No. 478,224.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that LCARL ALTENBURGER, acitizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of the town ofMorristown, in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Preheating Pistons forInternal-Combustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the followingspecification to be a full, clear, and exact description of my saidinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this. specification.

My invention relates broadly to pistons for internal-combustion engines,in which a charge of gasified fuel is introducedinto a cylinder,compressed by a piston and then ignited into explosive combustion. Moreparticularly considered, my invention relates to the pistoncrown in suchan engine and to means associated therewith adapted to preheat thecharges of said gaseous fuel prior to compression and explosion.

My invention has for its objects the provision of means, associated withthe crown of the piston, in an internal combustion or explosion engine,adapted to absorb a part of the heat developed by the explosion of acharge of gaseous fuel and to radiate such heat so absorbed, and therebyto raise the temperature of succeeding charges of said fuel rior totheir combustion and as introduced into the compression chamber of thecylinder in which said piston works. Further objects are the saving offuel by a more filClIll3- conversion thereof into expanded gases; theincreased capacity for the use of lower grade hydrocarbons and thecapability of use of low grade fuels with beneficial results; and theproduction of increased power by acceleration of the combustion, ex-vplosion and'expansion of the charge and by a the more completecombustion of the fuel upon such explosion thereof.

With the foregoing objects and others to be hereinafter moreparticularly pointed out, my invention consists in increasing theheatabsorbing and radiating capacity of that part of the wall of thepiston in contact with the fuel. The preferred physical embodiment of myinvention shown and described consists in associating with the crown orupper and outer face of the piston a thickness of metal affording air orgas circulation passages around and about it, also through it andbetween it and the piston-crown, Whereby a maximum surface is attainedfor contact with the heated gases resultant from an initial explosivestroke andffor contact with j:

succeeding charges of gas to be heatedby radiation and convectiontherefrom,

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, Figure l is a perspective view in elevation of apiston-head to which my gas pro-heating means is shown applied, part ofthe head and preheating means being broken away and the underlyingconfiguration of the piston-head being indicated by dotted lines. Figure2 is a plan-view on the line 22 of Figure 1, viewed in the directionindicated by the arrow, :1 part of, the gas-preheating means beingbroken away to show the webs and channels between it and thepiston-face. Figure 3 is a plan-view, similar to Figure 2, of amodification of the gas-preheater, conwebs connecting a circularpreheater plate to the piston face and of the channels for circulatingthe gas there'e'bout. Figure 4: is a sectional elevation on the line4.-i of Figure 3, showing the preheater and a fragment of thepiston-head.

Throughout these views, the numeral 1 indicates a piston-head, hollowand having the usual packing rings and trunnion bearings as indicated indotted lines; 2' is the outer, bevelled edge thereof. In Figures 1 and2,

sisting of an alternative arrangement of the 3 is an annular plate,having the central aperture 4, and attached to said crown by the webs 5having airor gas-passages 6 therebetween. v

The preferred form of preheating means illustrated is in the form of anannulus of washer form, mounted upon the pistoncrown, spaced aparttherefrom about oneeighth of an inch and itself of a thickness of aboutone-eighth of an inch, and having an outer diameter substantially threetimes that of the diameter of the circular central aperturetherethrough, said aperture being about one and one-quarter inches indiameter, and said outer diameter of the annulus being about three andone-quarter inches for a piston-face having a diameter over-all of threeand three-quarter inches. This annulus may be supported by websconnecting it to the wall of the piston-head and cast integrallytherewith, said webs being preferably concentrically disposed about thecentral circular aperture, and affording a plurality of radiallydisposed passage-ways therebetween to permit the circulation of gasesthereabout and about the annulus and over the piston-crown. Obviously,the form of the means of mounting the annulus may be varied and themounting may be by other methods than by casting such means integrally,as by a similarly disposed interrupted flange depending from saidannulus and welded to the piston-crown; or the preheating plate may befixed thereto in any suitable manner of securing same, as by rivets andspacing washers thereon. Such webs or connections are preferably ofsmall cross-section in order to minimize the loss of heat from thepreheater plate by conduction to the piston-head.

In the modification illustrated, in Figures 3 and 4, the annulus isreplaced by a central plate 7 having radial extensions 8 supported bywebs 9 having channels 10 therebetween.

By the construction shown and described the herein first-recited objectsare attained and by virtue of the high temperature of the preheaterplate, the formation of carbon deposits thereon is prevented.

Having thus described my invention and the best means now known to me ofpracticing the same, but without desiring to be understood as limitingthe scope of the appended claims to the particular constructions shownand described, which, as will be well understood by those skilled in.the art,

are susceptible of a wide range of variation and modification in manyequivalent forms without departing from the principle of their operationor the spirit of my invention, I claim:

1. In a piston for an internal combustion engine, means supported fromthe crown of said piston adapted to increase the area of heat-radiatingsurface exposed directly to the explosive gas and comprising a metallicplate integral with said piston-crown and a chamber between said plateand said crown in communication with the cylinder above the piston.

2. In a piston for an internal combustion engine, means adapted toincrease the heatraidiating surface of the piston-head exposed to theexplosive gases and consisting of an annulus spaced from the crown ofsaid piston-head and lying in a plane parallel thereto, and a pluralityof webs connecting said annulus and said crown.

3. In a piston for an internal combustion engine, an annulus spaced fromand mounted upon the piston-head in a plane parallel to the crownthereof, and a plurality of webs concentrically disposed about thecentral aperture of said annulus and connecting it to said piston-head.

4. In a piston for an internal combustion engine, an annulus spaced fromand mounted upon the crown of the piston in a plane parallel thereto, aplurality of webs connecting said annulus to said piston and adapted toafford a plurality of passages for the ex plosive gases between saidannulus and said crown.

CARL ALTENBURGER.

